Young investors buy historic Downtown building

A group of young El Paso investors has purchased the Abdou building in Downtown El Paso.
Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times

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Benjamin Marcus, managing partner for a group of young El Paso investors, stands outside the 106 year-old Abdou building that the group purchased at Mesa and Texas in Downtown El Paso.(Photo: VIC KOLENC/EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

A group of young El Paso investors has purchased the 106-year-old, seven-story Abdou building in Downtown, adding to the rejuvenation of the city's center in hopes of getting more El Paso expatriates to return home.

"One of the main motivators for doing this is a lot of young talent leaves, and we want to change the Downtown district as a first step to attract young talent" back home, said Benjamin Marcus, managing partner for the five-member Urban Lion LLC investors group. "The Downtown core is where young people want to live."

The group completed purchase of the historic building at 115 N. Mesa and Texas on Nov. 17 for an undisclosed price. It was for sale for $1.85 million and is appraised for tax purposes at $407,118 by the El Paso Central Appraisal District.

"All of us never had intentions of coming back to El Paso" after leaving to go to college, Marcus said. "I remember telling my parents I would never move back here. But there's a different mentality and synergy in El Paso, and that is exciting."

Marcus, 30, is the son of Meyer Marcus, founder and board chairman of Mimco Inc., a large El Paso shopping center developer, where the younger Marcus is now involved in acquisitions and development. He joined his father's company after moving back to El Paso in 2013 from the Phoenix area, where he continued living after getting a degree in urban planning at Arizona State University in 2009.

The other investors are his sisters, Mila and Shea Marcus, who also works for Mimco; J.W. Rogers, the grandson of the late Jonathan Rogers, a former El Paso mayor and founder of WestStar Bank; and Tyson Carameros, who's involved with his father's (Christopher Carameros) real estate development and investment company, L&M Asset Management.

An artist's rendering of what the 106 year-old, Trost-designed building at Mesa and Texas is to look like after exterior renovations are completed.(Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

The concrete-reinforced building was designed by iconic El Paso architect Henry Trost, and is on the El Paso County Historical Commission's list of the 12 most-endangered Downtown historical buildings.

"We're sizable fans of Henry Trost, and Downtown has a rich assemblage of Trost (designed) properties," Marcus said. "Most have not been tended for decades and that hurts the community."

The building's weathered "exterior is in pretty rough shape," but the interior is in decent shape and mostly needs cosmetic improvements, Marcus said as he gave a quick tour of one of the building's large apartments, which cover entire floors.

The group plans to first have the exterior repaired, painted gray and new lighting added, Marcus said. That plan is scheduled to go before the city Historic Landmark Commission Dec. 5 for approval. The interior will be renovated after the group gets an agreement with the city to provide tax incentives to help pay for the renovation, he said. It also will seek historic tax credits from the state to help finance the renovation, he said.

Upgrading the Abdou building's exterior "will make a powerful difference" for Downtown's appearance because the building can be seen from various locations, said Lane Gaddy, an El Paso businessman heading several investor groups that are renovating three historic Downtown buildings, including turning the art-deco Bassett Tower, also designed by Trost, into an Aloft Hotel.

Marcus said he's one of the investors in the Bassett Tower project. He's also one of four managing partners in AcQuin Properties, which owns about 20 properties in the El Paso-Las Cruces area, and in McAllen, he said. That group recently bought a 96 year-old, three-story office building at 415 E. Yandell and Campbell, on the edge of Downtown, he reported.

Gaddy, in an email, said he's excited to see the Abdou building and other Downtown buildings purchased by "the next generation with new ideas, and the patience to see (the) next few decades of Downtown growth through."

The Abdou building has eight apartments. One is still occupied by the former owner, Shirazi Bahram, who sold the building because he plans to move out of El Paso, Realtor Krisiann Rivera, listing agent for the building's sale, said in August, when the building was put on the market.

It also has three ground-floor retail spaces, one of which is vacant and for lease. Three of the apartments also are vacant. Plans are to keep apartments on the second through fourth floors, and turn the upper three floors into office spaces, Marcus said.

"The Downtown landscape is seeing unprecedented changes," which may entice the group to look at buying other Downtown buildings, he said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; 546-6421; @vickolenc on Twitter.

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Benjamin Marcus stands inside one of eight large apartments in the 106 year-old Abdou building at Mesa and Texas in Downtown El Paso.(Photo: VIC KOLENC/EL PASO TIMES)